BCRFA Instrumental in securing 6.4 Million Dollar Grant
May, 2009
UAB WINS $6.4 MILLION NONPROFIT GRANT
TO FIGHT AGGRESSIVE BREAST CANCER
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center have been awarded a $6.4 million grant from two national nonprofit groups who are partnering in the fight against an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of cancer called “triple negative” breast cancer. Triple-negative breast tumors lack receptors for the hormones estrogen (ER-negative) and progesterone (PR-negative), and for the protein HER2; this makes them resistant to several powerful cancer-fighting drugs like tamoxifen, aromatase inhibitors (arimidex, femara, aromasin) and Herceptin.
The funds for this grant are from The Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation. The $6.4 million will be used to evaluate experimental drugs in combination with standard therapies to treat patients with triple-negative tumors, which are more common in young African-American and Hispanic women. UAB scientists also plan to explore ways to better predict which therapies will be most effective in certain breast cancer patients.
“During the next 10 years we hope to improve the prognosis of women with triple-negative breast cancer through the development of new and more effective treatments,” said UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center researcher Andres Forero, M.D., the principal investigator for the project. “This grant is important recognition for the work of UAB scientists and clinicians, and it reflects on our excellence in translational research.”
Forero is working on the new research project with Tong Zhou, M.D., a UAB Professor of Medicine - Immunology and Rheumatology, Donald Buchsbaum, Ph.D., a UAB Professor in Radiation Oncology, Kurt Zinn, Ph.D., a UAB Professor in the Department of Radiology, and Albert F. LoBuglio, M.D., Director Emeritus and Distinguished Professor in the Comprehensive Cancer Center. This team is a noted expert in experimental agents that harness the body’s own natural defenses to help fight cancer. In addition, the team collaborates for this project with investigators at the University of North Carolina Cancer center and Danna Farber Cancer Center.
UAB’s winning grant proposal comes after the Birmingham-based Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama provided funding for early experiments.
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BCRFA News
Dolly O'Neal "Pink Power Mom" for 2010 by Bright Starts
Dolly A. O'Neal, Co-Founder of the BCRFA has been chosen as one of eight women who have been an inspiration to women and the fight against breast cancer. Bright Starts will donate $5,000 to the BCRFA and $1000 for the next five years.
Dolly will
helpful websites & info
- The UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Living beyond breast cancer
- Young Survival Coalition
- Mesothelioma Information
- House Cleaning Help for Cancer Patients
- Confronting Cancer with Faith
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